Environment for responsive graphical designs

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention provide tools and methods for the development and specification of a responsive graphical design. A graphical user interface allows a user to specify a design. The graphical user interface has a area for displaying a rendering of the design according to a first dimension specification. The system also has a dimension specification interface that allows the user to set a second dimension specification. The system also has a widget interface that allows the user to (i) add a widget to said design, (ii) specify a first state for the widget when the design is rendered according to the first dimension specification, and (iii) specify a second state for the widget when the design is rendered according to the second dimension specification.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/889,331, filed May 7, 2013 and entitled, “EXPORTING RESPONSIVEDESIGNS FROM A GRAPHICAL DESIGN TOOL.”

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Responsive graphical design tools have risen in importance alongside theproliferation of different screen sizes used by the general public torender and consume graphical media. Responsive design tools andtechniques are of particular importance for the design of web pages andweb sites. As nearly every electronic device is now capable of accessingthe Internet, and people are becoming less tolerant of small screensizes serving as a hindrance to their web browsing experience, a webdesign process flow must take varying screen size into account fromstart to finish. Furthermore, media consumers expect to be able tomanipulate the size of individual windows on a screen to allocate adesired amount of screen real estate to different windows based on theirrelative importance. As a result, the responsiveness of a graphicaldesign must be taken into account even if the design is intended forconsumption on a single device. Finally, certain devices are capable ofrendering a design in different orientations such as portrait andlandscape orientations. It is therefore desirable to have differentversions of a design specified for each of these orientations.

Responsive web design generally involves two main steps. First a set ofdimension specifications are provided by a designer. These dimensionsspecifications will serve either to define a target dimension at which aparticular version of the design will be rendered, or as trigger pointsat which the design will switch from one version to another. Forexample, a designer may specify a version of a design for a smart phonescreen with a 3.5 inch diagonal and another version of a design for atablet screen with a 10 inch diagonal; or a designer may specify adesign to switch from one version to another when a rendering space in abrowser window is decreased in size below a width of 10 inches. FIG. 1illustrates a responsive design as specified for a smart phone screen inportrait orientation 100 and in landscape orientation 101. The portraitorientation 100 and landscape orientation 101 each display differentdimension versions of a single responsive design. Note that the heroimage 102, title text 103, and link list 104 in portrait orientation 100are laid out in an entirely different configuration as hero image 105,title text 106, and link list 107 in landscape orientation 101.

Regardless of how the different dimensions are selected or delineated,the increase in required design effort for the responsive design risesin proportion to the number of different sizes for which a design mustbe specified. For example, the work required to specify the responsivedesign shown in portrait orientation 100 and landscape orientation 101may be nearly double the work required to specify a single nonresponsivedesign. Graphic designers and developers have found themselves facedwith the difficult task of producing various versions of the samedesigns that are optimized for different rendering spaces. Responsivegraphical design tools seek to ease the burden of specifying all ofthese different versions.

Related approaches to responsive graphical design have includedautomated procedures for modifying a design such as reducing white spacebetween design elements, reducing font sizes, and reducing image sizesautomatically as the rendering space afforded for the design is reduced.Other approaches have focused on alleviating the manual specificationprocesses by copying the design automatically from one dimension versioninto an area used to specify a different dimension version of thedesign. For example, the design elements in portrait orientation 100 inFIG. 1 would be copied automatically by the tool into a landscapeorientation design window automatically as soon as the designerrequested the ability to define a landscape version of the design. Theresult would be something like what is shown in landscape orientation108. The graphical designer would then be able to rearrange and resizethe copied elements in the new design window to create the version shownin landscape orientation 101.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In one embodiment of the invention, a system is provided with agraphical user interface that allows a user to specify a design. Thegraphical user interface has an area for displaying a rendering of thedesign according to a first dimension specification. The system also hasa dimension specification interface that allows the user to set a seconddimension specification. The system also has a widget interface thatallows the user to (i) add a widget to said design, (ii) specify a firststate for the widget when the design is rendered according to the firstdimension specification, and (iii) specify a second state for the widgetwhen the design is rendered according to the second dimensionspecification.

In another embodiment of the invention, a method of allowing a user tospecify a design is provided. The method includes providing a graphicaluser interface to display a page of a design. The method also includesproviding a widget characterization interface that allows the user toadd an interactive widget to the page in a default dimension version.The method also includes accepting a first characterization from theuser to be associated with the interactive widget in the defaultdimension version. The method also includes providing a dimensionspecification interface for the user to allow the user to specify asecond dimension version. The method also includes accepting a secondcharacterization from the user to be associated with the interactivewidget in the second dimension version. The widget characterizationinterface allows the user to specify an interactive property of thewidget differently for the first characterization and the secondcharacterization.

In another embodiment of the invention, a method of allowing a user tospecify a responsive web page design is provided. The method includesreceiving a dimension specification from the user, the dimensionspecification being a threshold dimension. The method also includesreceiving a specification for a first widget state for an interactivewidget from the user, the interactive widget having a set of properties.The method also includes receiving a second specification for a secondwidget state for the interactive widget from the user, the secondspecification altering a subset of the set of properties of theinteractive widget. The method also includes providing a first renderingof the responsive web page design that is specified for browser windowsthat are larger than the threshold dimension. The method also includesrendering the interactive widget in the first rendering according to thefirst characterization. The method also includes providing a secondrendering of the responsive web page design that is specified forbrowser windows that are smaller than the threshold dimension. Themethod also includes rendering the interactive widget in the secondrendering according to the second characterization. The set ofproperties includes an interactive property of the widget.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates different versions of a responsive graphical designas found in the related art.

FIG. 2 illustrates a graphical user interface for a graphic design toolthat is in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of a method for allowing a user tospecify a responsive design that is in accordance with embodiments ofthe present invention.

FIG. 4a-b illustrate graphical user interfaces for a graphic design toolto illustrate certain aspects of embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of a method for displaying theresponsiveness of a design that is in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of a method for specifying a designusing masters with responsive widgets that is in accordance withembodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 7a-d illustrate different versions of a responsive graphicaldesign to illustrate certain aspects of embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart of a method for specifying a designusing container widgets in masters that is in accordance withembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 9a-f illustrate different versions of a responsive graphical designto illustrate certain aspects of embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flow chart of a method for specifying a designusing different editing modes that is in accordance with embodiments ofthe present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrate different portions of an exported instantiation of aresponsive graphical design having a dimension version selector that isin accordance with embodiments of the present invention

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow chart of a method for exporting anddisplaying an instantiation of a responsive graphical design that is inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 13 illustrates a flow chart of a method for rendering a responsivegraphical design that is in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 14 illustrates a block diagram of a computer system that can beused in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the disclosedinvention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation ofthe present technology, not as a limitation of the present technology.In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatmodifications and variations can be made in the present technologywithout departing from the spirit and scope thereof. For instance,features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be usedwith another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it isintended that the present subject matter covers all such modificationsand variations within the scope of the appended claims and theirequivalents.

The invention relates generally to responsive graphical design, and morespecifically to the design of responsive web page prototypes. Asdescribed above, responsive graphical design creates additional work forthe graphic designers in proportion to the responsiveness of the design.In the solutions described above with reference to FIG. 1, the landscapedesign was copied into the area used to specify the portrait design.This approach might save time in the initial set up process for eachdesign size. However, after the copying step is completed, all thebenefits to efficiency attributable to those solutions will have beenexpended. If, at a later time, a project manager decides that a designelement needs to be modified, the modification will need to be manuallyconducted on each of the separate designs. For example, if a managerdecides that the title text on each page should be green instead ofblack, a graphic designer will have to load the landscape design 101,modify title text 106, load portrait design 100, and modify title text103.

Embodiments of the present invention alleviate the problem describedabove by making each design element a single editable entity across theentire design. As such, a designer would only need to change title text106 from green to black, and title text 103 would also change becausethey are the same object viewed at different sizes. This benefit iscompounded by the use of responsive masters that propagate changes tomultiple pages of a design with a single edit. In keeping with theexample of FIG. 1, it is likely that hero image 105 and title text 106remain on every page of the web site. Embodiments of the presentinvention allow for the usage of a master that would include thesedesign elements on each page of the website and would allow anymodification of the master to propagate to every instance of the masteron all the other pages of the design.

The benefits described in the preceding paragraph are provided, at leastin part, through the use of responsive widgets, masters containingresponsive widgets, and masters that are themselves responsive.Responsive widgets can be added into a design and are specified suchthat there characteristics can have various states for various dimensionversions. Since the same widget is rendered in each of the dimensionversions, an edit made to the widget at one design size can bepropagated automatically to all of the other dimensions. Embodiments ofthe invention also allow a user to limit a particular modification fromaffecting the widget at other dimension versions by providing methods ofswitching between all-dimension, one-dimension, and multi-dimensionediting modes. In addition, masters can be included in the design topropagate changes through different pages of a design. The masters mayalso include responsive container widgets that are configured to storedifferent widgets on different pages of the same design. Masters serveto limit design efforts associated with responsive web design because amodification made to one object in a graphic design can be automaticallypropagated to a multitude of instances of the object. Finally,responsive masters can be added into a design and are specified suchthat their characteristics can have various states for various dimensionversions.

In related approaches, a design is made responsive through the use ofmedia queries. Media queries are embedded in the code of a web page andare known to standard web browsers. A browser will recognize the mediaqueries when rendering a page, and load a specific style sheet for thedesign when the media query is affirmatively evaluated by the browser.The media query can specify a particular width for a rendering space, aparticular height for a rendering space, a color rendering capability ofa device, etc. If the rendering space provided by a browser renderingthe design meets any of the specified characteristics, a particularstyle sheet can be loaded in response to alter the design. For example,a media query could be set to lower the font size associated with aparticular widget if the width of the screen being used to render thedesign decreased below a certain predefined width. Media queries offer away to provide responsiveness to a design that is already built in tohyper-text markup language (HTML) and cascading style sheets (CSS).However, media queries are somewhat limiting because they can only beused to adjust a style sheet. As a result, they do not provide for moreinvolved responsive web design such as the ability to alter theinteractivity of a design element.

Embodiments of the present invention provide web site designs withresponsive characteristics through the use of object model eventhandlers that allow users to produce web site prototypes with a moreinvolved degree of responsiveness. The object model event can treat theweb page as its object and can listen to the resizing of the page. Ifthe page is resized, the object model event can trigger an event handlerin the form of a script that modifies any desired characteristic of adesign element. For example, the script could be a javascript used tochange the URL of a web page that a widget links to. In other words, awidget could link to one page when it is rendered in a first dimensionversion and link to a different page when it is rendered in a seconddimension version.

In related approaches, elements in a design are made responsive bystacking elements in the rows and columns of a grid, specifying marginsfor the grid, and then making the margins and row/column locationsresponsive. For example, the specification for the title text 106 inlandscape design 101 in FIG. 1 would be defined as: column 2, row 1,margin 33%; whereas the specification for the title text 103 in portraitdesign 100 would be: column 1, row 1, margin 50%. For more complexexamples, the effort associated with keeping track of the relativepositioning inputs becomes prohibitively difficult—particularly forgraphic designers that are less technically inclined.

Embodiments of the present invention provide web site designs withresponsive widgets that respond based on a predefined absolute positionof where the widget should be located on a web page. The resultingscheme for specifying widget locations is much more intuitive than onebased on relative positioning and makes the design of interactiveresponsive web design much easier on the designers and developersinvolved. The absolute positions can be specified in terms of x- andy-coordinates using various possible units including metric distanceunits such as centimeters, US distance units such as inches, anddesign-specific units such as pixels.

Design Environment: Responsive Interactive Widgets

Embodiments of the present invention provide tools and methods forspecifying a responsive graphical design. In specific embodiments of theinvention, the responsive graphical design can be a responsive web pageprototype. The graphical design tool can allow a user to specify designelements such as widgets for inclusion in the graphical design. Thewidgets can be interactive. The graphical design tool can also allow auser to specify dimension specifications for the design.

Dimension specifications refer to rendering space dimensions and areused by the responsive design to determine which dimension versionshould be rendered given a particular available rendering space. Adimension specification can serve as a trigger point that defines adimension at which the design switches from being rendered according toone dimension version to being rendered according to another dimensionversion. For example, a dimension specification could specify a browserwindow width of 5 inches, and could be used by the responsive design torender a first dimension version when the browser window width was lessthan 5 inches and a second dimension version when the browser width wasgreater than 5 inches. A dimension specification can also serve as atarget dimension that defines a specific set dimension at whichdifferent dimension versions of the design should be rendered.

Once a user has specified at least one dimension specification and atleast one widget, the graphical design tool can allow a user to specifydifferent states for the widget for different dimension versions of thedesign. In other words, the widget may have a first state in onedimension version of the design and a second state in another version ofthe design. The transformation of the widgets and design elements fromone state to another is what provides the design with itsresponsiveness. Examples of these tools and methods are described belowwith reference to FIGS. 2-5.

A tool for designing a responsive graphical design can be described withreference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 illustrates a graphical design environment200 that allows a user to specify a responsive graphical design.Graphical design environment 200 includes a window 201 for displaying arendering of the responsive graphical design. In specific embodiments ofthe invention, window 201 will be configured to display the variousspecified dimension versions of the design. For example, the windowcould be used to display a Smart Phone dimension version of the designand then be used to display a Tablet dimension version of the design.However, the design environment could also include a gallery of windowsthat simultaneously displayed a version of each dimension version of thedesign. A user could also be able to add and remove different dimensionversions from the gallery at will. The tool could also add a dimensionversion to the gallery automatically each time an additional dimensionspecification was added to the design.

Graphical design environment 200 also includes a widget interface 202.The widget interface allows a user to add a widget to the window 201. Awidget can be any design element associated with the design including abutton, a pull-down menu, a hyperlink, a text box, or a page. Inspecific embodiments of the invention, the widget can be added bydragging and dropping a widget from widget menu 203 into window 201. Thewidget interface also allows a user to specify states for a widget byproviding values for specific properties. A widget state is defined by aset of values for each of that widget's properties. In specificembodiments of the invention, the values can be entered via text inputsto widget interface 202. However, widgets could also be added using adrop down menu or through the use of keyboard commands. The values forspecific states could be provided in a separate interface as in FIG. 2or they could be specified directly in a window such as window 201 by auser clicking on a specific element to bring up an interface in window201 itself. Such a selection could utilize a special selection actionsuch as a right-click with a mouse or the depression of a special keyduring selection of a widget to distinguish the selection from astandard selection in which the widget is positioned in window 201.

Graphical design environment 200 also includes a dimension specificationinterface 204 that allows a user to specify a dimension or set ofdimensions to be used to delineate various dimension versions. Inspecific embodiments of the invention, the dimension specificationinterface will include buttons 205 to select different dimensionversions. As shown in FIG. 2, a user is able to choose between a SmartPhone dimensions version and a Default dimension version by selectingdifferent buttons 205. In specific embodiments of the invention, whenthese buttons are selected, window 201 will display the selecteddimension version. When the design appears in window 201 it will berendered according to that dimension version. In specific embodiments,the dimension version that is displayed in window 201 will generally bethe dimension version to which edits to the design are applied as theyare received from the user. As shown in FIG. 2, dimension specificationinterface 204 includes two dimension versions: Default and Smart Phone.These dimension versions and others may be available in the designenvironment before a user begins specifying a design. However, dimensionspecification interface 204 may also allow users to specify and addadditional dimension specifications and create additional dimensionversions. Furthermore, a user may begin specifying a design before anydimension specifications are received such that a design may becompletely specified in a non-responsive state before dimensionspecifications are added to a dimension specification interface and theresponsive design processes ensues.

Additional dimension specifications and dimension versions can be addedin various ways. The user could enter the dimension values textuallyinto a dimension specification interface and then click an entry buttonto store the dimension specification. The entry of a dimensionspecification could automatically create a corresponding dimensionversion. The dimension specification interface could also allow users tolabel each dimension version. The dimension specification interfacecould also provide users with a predefined set of dimension versionssuch as a Smart Phone target size, a Tablet target size, and a Desktoptarget size. The dimension specification could also allow users tospecify a dimension specification based on a current size of a windowsuch as window 201. In embodiments in which window 201 is an adjustablewindow, the user could adjust the size of window 201 to a given size andthen enter a command in a dimension specification interface to store anew dimension specification based on the current size of the adjustablewindow. Using FIG. 2 as an example, a ruler could be displayed along theedge or edges of window 201 to display the current size of the window asit is being adjusted to facilitate this process. The rulers couldalternatively be placed on the edge or edges of the graphical designtool 200 to serve the same purpose. The saved dimension specificationcould be a scaled version of the actual size of the adjustable window.The scaling factor could be configurable by the user.

Widget interface 202 may allow a user to specify states for each widgetin a design and associate each of those states with a particulardimension version. A state can be associated with a different dimensionversion in various ways. For example, a user could specify that heroimage 206 will appear at a specific set of x- and y-coordinates on theweb page in a first state, and a second set of x- and y-coordinates onthe web page in a second state. This particular specification could beaccomplished using an absolute position specification interface 207. Theabsolute position specification interface could have an x-input andy-input used to specify the location of the widget in the design for agiven dimension version. However, the inputs do not need to be inseparate entries as shown in the FIG. 2 as both could be input at asingle prompt separated by a comma or another indicator. Furthermore,the absolute position interface could have numbers that areautomatically filled out as a widget is visually positioned in a designwindow. The specified absolute position of the widget can be associatedwith a particular dimension version by providing duplicate fields forindividual widget properties in widget interface 202 and labeling theduplicate fields with the dimension version they are associated with.The specified absolute position of the widget could also be associatedwith a particular dimension version by switching window 201 and widgetinterface 202 so that they instantaneously only reflect the dimensionversion that is currently being viewed and edited. Any edits made to awidget would then be applied to that particular dimension version untilanother version was selected. Finally, a state could be associated witha particular widget through the use of the gallery display approach inwhich edits made to the sub-window displaying a particular dimensionversion would be associated with only that dimension version.

Although the example of an absolute position property was used in theprevious paragraph, the various methods of associating a property with aspecific dimension version described above apply to other properties.Widgets added to a design using widget interface 202 can have variousresponsive user definable properties. These properties can all beconfigured to be responsive by defining different values for theproperties in different dimension versions. For example, a text propertyof a widget could be set such that the widget's text content was “ClickHere to Login with Password” in a tablet dimension version, and “Login”in a Smart Phone dimension version. As described in the previousparagraph, the widget interface 202 could allow a user to specify anabsolute position for the widget at a given dimension version.Furthermore, the widget interface 202 could also allow a user to specifydifferent colors, font styles, image resolutions, line weights, richtext formatting, relative positioning, and any property that can bedefined in a CSS style sheet for a widget. The widget interface 202could also allow a user to specify a different text content for a widgetat different dimension versions. For example, a text box containing alarge amount of informative text in a large dimension version could becondensed to a summary format in a smaller dimension version.

The user definable properties specified using widget interface 202 canalso be event handlers and associated interactive properties.Interactive properties include the ability to provide additionalinformation in response to a user input and generally responding tostimulus from a person utilizing the design. These properties could bemade responsive. For example, a widget could link to one page in onedimension version, and link to a different page in another dimensionversion. As another example, the widget could either contain a link orbe completely non-interactive at different dimension versions. Eventhandlers could be added to the widgets to facilitate their interactiveproperties, and the event handlers could be made responsive tofacilitate the responsiveness of those interactive properties. Forexample, the widget could be a button with a “show panel A” eventhandler and a “show panel B” event handler for its OnClick event, andpanel A could be displayed when the button is clicked while the playerwas a certain size and panel B could be displayed when the button isclicked while the player was at a different size. Further, the eventportion of the event handlers could be made responsive such that thewidget would execute a certain action upon an OnClick event in onedimension version, and execute the same action upon an OnMouseEnterevent in another dimension version. In either case, the event handlerscould also be conditional on the dimension version being renderedregardless of the size of the player.

All of the widget properties described above can be specified in variousways. For example, the widget specification interface 202 can change itsappearance such that it can be used to specify any property that ismodifiable on a particular widget. For example, if the widget were atext box, the widget specification interface could change to include aninput field for typing in the text to appear in the text box. Many ofthe properties for the widgets could also be specified in window 201directly. Keeping with the example of a text box, a user could select atext box that was already in the window 201 and be provided with acursor in the text box to begin specifying the text directly in the textbox itself. A user could also possibly right click on a widget in window201 or use some other unique selection mechanism to bring up a list ofproperties for the widget that can be specified directly on the widget.

The dimension specifications can take on various forms. Dimensionspecifications could be equivalent to a width of an area afforded torender a design, a height of an area afforded to render a design, both aheight and a width, a diagonal dimension, and any other dimension or setof dimensions that could be associated with an space afforded to rendera design—including a scalar value for the area of the space itself. Thewide assortment of dimension specifications is important because of thelarge number of players that designers must consider when specifying adesign. For example, if the only value allowed was a scalar value forthe area of the rendering space, a user would not be able to create adesign that was responsive to a screen with variant orientations (e.g.,a smart phone that can display a design in portrait or landscape modethat has the same total area in either situation).

The relationship between dimension specifications and dimension versionscan take on various forms. As described above, a dimension version canbe added to the design every time a dimension specification isspecified. The dimension specification could then serve as a targetdimension for that dimension version. For example, the Smart Phonedimension specification could serve as a target dimension for the SmartPhone dimension version such that when the design was rendered at theprecise Smart Phone dimension specification, the Smart Phone dimensionversion would be rendered. As another example, the Smart Phone dimensionspecification could serve as a trigger point or threshold dimension suchthat any time the design was rendered on a device having a relevantrendering space dimension that was less than the Smart Phone dimensionspecification, the Smart Phone dimension version would be renderedinstead of the Default dimension version. If multiple dimensionspecifications were added, and each was associated with a differentdimension version, the dimension specifications could serve as multiplethreshold dimensions or trigger points such that the design would berendered in the largest version for which the device's relevantrendering space dimension was less than the dimension specification forthat version.

In approaches that followed the rule articulated at the close of thelast paragraph, the dimension specifications could be treated such thatif a dimension were not specified, it would be assumed to be infinite.The Default dimension version would therefore not need to be associatedwith a particular dimension specification as infinity would be theassumed value. In addition, dimension specifications having multipleinputs, such as one that required both a width and a height, could stilloperate given this approach even if only a single dimension wasspecified. For example, if the dimension specification included a widthof 3 inches, but the user did not include a height value, then thedesign would operate as if the height value were infinite and would onlybe responsive based on the width value.

A method 300 for allowing a user to specify a responsive design can bedescribed with reference to FIG. 3. In step 301, a graphical userinterface is provided to a user that displays a page of a design. Thegraphical user interface could be the same as graphical user interface200 described above. In step 302, a widget characterization interface isprovided to the user to allow them to add an interactive widget to thepage. The widget can be added to a default dimension version. In step303, a characterization is accepted from the user to be associated withthe interactive widget in a default dimension version. In step 304, adimension specification interface is provided to a user to allow theuser to specify a second dimension version. The specification interfacein step 304 could accept a specification via a manual input dimensionspecification and the automatic creation of an associated dimensionversion, the selection of a default or previously user-defined dimensionversion, or through the adjustment of an adjustable window and theselection of the instant window size as a dimension specification andthe automatic creation of an associated dimension version. In step 305,a second characterization for the widget is accepted from the user to beassociated with the interactive widget in the second dimension version.Steps 304 and 305 could be executed multiple times to allow a user tospecify multiple dimensions versions and to provide differentcharacterizations for a widget in each specified dimension version.However, the widget does not need to have different states for eachdimension version and as a result step 305 could be skipped forparticular iterations. Accepting steps 303 and 305 could be accomplishedthrough the use of a computing system that receives inputs from a userand routes them to a processor where the characterizations areassociated with the interactive widget. The computing system could routethe input from the user in an intra-computer routing network, a localarea network, the Internet, or any computing system network. Thecomputing system could be the computing system discussed below in FIG.14.

The target dimensions in the method of FIG. 3 could be used by a finaldesign specified in the design tool to select which states are to beapplied to the widgets in the design when the design is rendered. Forexample, if a browser rendering a design had a screen size with arelevant dimension associated with the second dimension version, theinteractive widget would be rendered in accordance with the secondcharacterization. Then, if the browser's screen size was adjusted sothat it had a relevant dimension associated with the default dimensionversion, the interactive widget would then be rendered according to theother characterization.

A specific example of how the method described with reference to FIG. 3could operate with a specific graphical user interface can be describedwith reference to FIGS. 4a and 4b . FIG. 4a displays a graphical userinterface 400 comprising a widget characterization interface 401 and adimension specification interface 402. In this example, the widgetcharacterization interface is an absolute position specificationinterface configured to accept x- and y-coordinates for the widget.Interface 401 would be provided to the user in step 302 above. Theabsolute position could be specified using an x- and y-coordinateentered by the user into widget characterization interface 401 andaccepted in step 303. In step 304, the dimension specification interfacecould be provided to the user in the form of dimension specificationinterface 402 or 404. If the specification interface 402 was provided tothe user, another portion of the specification interface would benecessary for the user to add the “Smart Phone” button to allow the userto select a different dimension specification. This button could beadded by any of the methods described above including selecting fromdefault sizes already known to the tool or specifying the new dimensionspecification manually. Once selected, the button “Smart Phone” couldswitch the editing and viewing mode to that dimension version. Then, instep 305, a second characterization in the form of a second absoluteposition of the same widget could be defined using the same interface401 as was used in step 302 to specify a new set of x and y coordinatesfor the widget at the “Smart Phone” size.

The characterizations of the widget that are specified according to themethod in FIG. 3 above can be stored at the same location in a computermemory. The default and second characterizations of the widget can bestored in a computer memory after being accepted from a user in a stepof storing the default and second characterizations in a memory.Furthermore, for properties that are not specified as having differentvalues in the different dimension versions, the value for the propertycan be stored in the same location in memory. For example, a button thathas a text property with text content that changes from one dimensionversion to another and an absolute position that changes as well, couldhave a color property that stays the same regardless of what dimensionversion the button is rendered in. In that situation, the value for thecolor property for that widget could be stored in the same location inmemory and the property would be common for the different states of thewidget.

Once a widget has been specified to have multiple states for multipledimension versions in a design, how the widget responds to variousdimension specifications can be verified while in the tool. A method 500for displaying the responsiveness of a design in the tool according tothe various dimension specification can be described with reference toFIG. 5. The methods of FIG. 5 can begin immediately after thespecifications have been received as described in FIG. 3, or it canbegin after the two widget states have been received according to anyother method. In step 501, a resize instruction is received from theuser. For example, the resize instruction can be received from theselection of a button, the selection of an entry in a pull down menu, orby clicking and dragging a window adjustor input to resize a window. Theresize instruction will resize the page such that it has a resizeddimension. In step 502, a resized version of the page is provided todisplay to the user in response to the received resizing instruction. Inthe simplest case, the resized dimension will not alter the relationshipof the tool display to the dimension specifications. As a result, thewidgets in the design are rendered without modification.

In embodiments where a dimension specification is used as athreshold—where one dimension version of the design is rendered belowthe threshold and another is rendered above the threshold—an interactivewidget will be rendered with one characterization if the resizeddimension is larger than the dimension specification, and anothercharacterization if the resize instruction selects a dimension that issmaller than the dimension specification. For example, in the methoddisplayed in FIG. 5 the method will move to step 503 if the resizeddimension is larger than the dimension specification and will move tostep 504 if the resized dimension is smaller than the dimensionspecification. The design will be rendered in accordance with a defaultdimension version in step 503 and a second dimension version in step504. Note that if a second dimension specification had been specifiedpreviously, the characterization displayed could depend on the relativesizes of the two dimension specifications. For example, in the methoddisplayed in FIG. 5 if the second dimension specification were less thanthe first dimension specification, the method would move to step 505 ifthe resized dimension is less than both of the dimension specifications.In step 505 the design would be rendered according to a third dimensionversion associated with the second dimension specification.

In embodiments of the present invention where different states arespecified for widgets in various dimension versions, certain benefitsaccrue as compared to the related art. In particular, the fact that thesame widget exists as part of the design in each of the dimensionversions facilitates the modification and creation of the design. Usedin combination with the different size editing modes described below,editing the entire design can be done easily by editing the widget in asingle dimension version and having the edit selectively propagatethroughout the design. In specific embodiments of the invention, this isfacilitated by storing characterizations for the widget at commonlocations in a memory. The memory will store the widget along with a setof values for properties of the widget in the first state and secondstate. Particular values for a property of the widget that is the samein the first state and second state will be stored at a single locationin memory. By applying this method and other approaches, the widget willbe treated as a single unitary element by the computer system used toprovide the design environment, thereby providing efficiency to both thedesign process and the computer resources needed to store the widgetsused in the design.

Design Environment: Responsive Masters

In specific embodiments of the invention, the design environment willallow users to add masters to their designs. The masters may containwidgets that are specified within the master. The widgets may beresponsive. Masters can serve as templates for any design element thatneeds to be repeated multiple times in a design. For example, a design'sheader, footer, and navigation content are often presented on multiplepages of the design to provide the design with a unified look and feeland to allow for easier access to the various portions of the design.However, masters can also be used to facilitate the editing of somethingas simple as a single image that is placed in various locations in asingle design. Masters are well suited to the task of managing aresponsive design because they allow for edits to be easily propagatedthrough the design. As mentioned previously, responsive graphical designcompounds the amount of design work that needs to be done for the entiredesign, so the ability of masters to allow for centralized management ofthese design efforts is therefore beneficial. Tools and methods forspecifying a design using masters with responsive widgets can bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 6-9 f.

Interfaces similar to the one described with reference to FIG. 2 can beused to specify a design using masters with responsive widgets. Themasters can be selected from an interface and dragged into a design, orthey can be specified through other means such as a combination ofshort-cut keys. However, masters can also individually be specified intheir own separate design windows, and then be pulled in to the maindesign window after they have been fully defined. A user-defined mastertemplate definition can likewise be saved so that it can be easilyretrieved and brought back out into the design space. Finally, althoughthe discussion below is generally directed to masters that can be pulledinto pages of a design, the teachings herein apply equally to mastersthat serve as pages of a design themselves.

A method 600 for specifying a design using masters with responsivewidgets can be described with reference FIG. 6. In step 601, a masterselection is accepted via a communication system from a user. The masterselection can be of a predefined master or it can involve the separatespecification of a new master and the selection of that master from acustomized library. In step 602, a widget is added to the master with aspecific characterization. In step 603, a dimension specification isaccepted from the user via a routing system. The master can then beviewed by the user in a different dimension version and the user canchoose to specify a second characterization to the same widget. In step604, an instance of the master can be added to various pages in thedesign. In step 605, a property of a widget in the master can be changedwhich will be automatically applied to all of the various pages in thedesign. For example, the color of a widget's border could be changed,and the change would be propagated through to every page on which themaster appeared.

An example of how this method can improve the design process forresponsive designs can be described with reference to FIGS. 7a-d . FIG.7a displays a web page 700, a master 701, and two widgets 702 and 703.As described above, the widgets 702 and 703 were placed within master701 and may have been specified in a separate design window from webpage 700. In this situation, widgets 702 and 703 are text elements thatneed to appear consistently in the location on web page 700 taken up bymaster 701 across multiple pages in a design. In other words, numerouspages in the design involve text located in the upper left corner of theweb page in the orientation shown. FIG. 7b displays the same web pageafter it has been resized to a narrower size. Note that master 701 hasnot changed its location, but that widgets 702 and 703 are now locatedin different positions relative to each other. This is because thewidgets responded to the adjustment in the web page size as previouslyspecified by the designer. FIGS. 7c and 7d illustrate the same web pageand widgets, but also include image 704. This edit was made to themaster (i.e., an image was added to the master) after the designs inFIGS. 7a and 7b were specified. The benefit of this approach arises fromthe fact that image 704 will be included throughout the designeverywhere that the master is located which significantly decreases theediting required to implement the modification.

Widgets and dimension specifications can be specified for a master inthe same manner that they are specified in a design generally. Notably,the position of the widget can be specified relative to the master in aproportional offset from a center or corner of the master, or throughthe specification of an x- and y-coordinate of the widget where thecoordinate system is defined with respect to the master. Furthermore,the editing methods used to specify the characteristics of a master canoverlap the editing methods used to specify the characteristics of awidget to a certain degree.

In specific embodiments of the invention, the masters themselves can beresponsive. For example, a master used as a header may be modified tochange the shape, appearance, and content of the master as the width ofa page decreases. Since the header needs to appear on every web page,and headers generally span the entire width of a web page, they areparticularly well suited to being treated as masters in a design.However, the benefits associated with responsive masters are generallyapplicable to any design element that is used repeatedly even if it isonly used multiple times on a single page of the design.

The use of responsive container widgets and masters in a designenvironment provide additional benefits that can be described withreference to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG. 8 illustrates a method 800 forspecifying a design using container widgets in masters. In step 801 amaster selection is accepted via a routing system from a user. Themaster selection can be of a predefined master or it can involve theseparate specification of a new master. In step 802, a container widgetis added to the master with a specific characterization. Thecharacterization will include a position of the container widget in themaster and a size of the container widget. In step 803, a dimensionspecification is accepted from the user. The master can then be viewedby the user and the user can chose to specify a second characterizationto the same container widget. In step 804, an instance of the master canbe added to various pages in the design. In step 805, a property of themaster can be changed which will be automatically be applied to all ofthe various pages in the design.

Method 800 can also include steps 806 and 807. As shown in the figure,these steps can be conducted after the instance of the master is addedto various pages in the design. In step 806, a widget is added to acontainer widget. Then in step 807, different characterizations areaccepted for the widget that was added in step 806. The differentcharacterizations can be applied to create different states for thewidget that are associated with different dimension versions. Unlike thechange made to a property of the master in step 805, the widget additionand characterization in steps 806 and 807 will only modify a singleinstance of the master. This is because the container widgets areassociated with the master but the contents of the container are not.The net effect of this procedure will be that a degree of responsivenessassociated with the master can be edited separately from a degree ofresponsiveness associated with widgets that are placed in the containerwidgets in the masters.

An example of the results of this method can be described with referenceto FIGS. 9a-9f . FIG. 9a displays a page 900 of a design including amaster 901 and two container widgets 902 and 903. The container widgets902 and 903 are defined so that when the page is resized as shown bycomparing FIG. 9a and FIG. 9b , the container widgets 902 and 903 arelocated in new positions in master 901. FIG. 9c displays page 904 withanother instance of master 901 including additional widgets that havebeen added to container widgets 902 and 903. As illustrated in FIG. 9c ,one of the additional widgets is a text block and one of the additionalwidgets is an image of a tree. FIG. 9e displays page 905, which is adifferent page of the same design having a still further instance ofmaster 901. The instance of master 901 on page 905 includes additionalwidgets that have been added to container widgets 902 and 903. Asillustrated in FIG. 9e , one of the additional widgets is a text blockand one of the additional widgets is an image of a sun. Note that theresponsiveness of the containers is maintained while the content of thepages is different as illustrated by comparing FIGS. 9d and 9f to FIGS.9c and 9e respectively. Therefore, the responsiveness of the layout canbe centrally managed by editing the container widgets in master 901while the content of the individual pages can be specified independentlyby editing the content of the container widgets 902 and 903 on pages 904and 905.

Using container widgets, it is therefore possible to segment aspects ofa master that will be editable from a single instance of the master fromaspects that will only change locally. This provides another degree offreedom to the designer to aide in maintaining design flexibility whilemaintaining enough interrelationships in the design to facilitate easymanipulation of the design as the design process continues.

Design Environment: Local and Global Editing

Embodiments of the present invention that are described above facilitatethe specification of a responsive design across dimension versions andvarious pages of a multi-page design. In particular, embodiments inwhich a single widget is rendered across various dimension versionsallow edits made to that specific widget to propagate quickly throughall dimension versions of the design because it is the same widget ineach version. However, dimension versions of a responsive design arenecessarily distinct which means that the states of widgets in eachdimension version must be distinguishable. Therefore, embodiments of thepresent invention described below also enable a user to quickly specifywhether a characterization will modify a widget in a limited set ofdimension versions or if it will modify the widget globally across alldimension versions.

A method 1000 of specifying a design using different editing modes canbe described with reference to FIG. 10. Method 1000 begins with a step1001 of selecting an editing mode. Method 1000 can be used incombination with any of the methods described previously. In specificembodiments of the invention, the editing modes that can be selectedinclude a single-dimension editing mode, an all-dimension editing mode,and a multi-dimension editing mode. Step 1001 can also be preceded bystep 1002 in which a subset of dimension versions are grouped to definethe dimension versions that will be edited in the multi-dimensionediting mode. In step 1001, a user selects one of the editing modesdescribed previously. The method then proceeds in different branchesdepending upon the selection made in this step.

The user can select an editing mode in step 1002 in various ways. Inspecific embodiments of the invention, the default mode will be asingle-dimension editing mode in which widgets will only receivespecifications for the dimension version of the design that is currentlybeing viewed or that is currently selected. In these embodiments, a usermay be required to select an all-dimension or multi-dimension editingmode from a pull down menu before that editing mode will be entered. Aninterface for allowing the selection of an editing mode in step 1001could be triggered automatically the first time a specification is addedto a widget after a new dimension specification has been added to thedesign. For example, if a new dimension is added, the next time a usertries to specify a characteristic for a widget a pop up window could askthe user to specify whether or not the edit should apply globally, onlyto the current dimension version, or if the current dimension versionshould be added to a predefined sub set of dimension versions that areedited in the multi-dimension editing version.

Various measures could be provided to prevent unwanted edits being addedto a design. A distinct flag could be included in the graphical designenvironment to inform a user what the current editing mode is to preventthe user from applying changes to other dimension versions withoutseeing those changes being made. For example, the text GLOBAL couldappear in colored text in the gutter of the window used for thegraphical design environment whenever the tool was in all-dimensionediting mode. This would prevent users from mistakenly editing dimensionversions they did not intend to modify. Likewise, the gallery viewdescribed previously could be employed to prevent unwanted changes byopening and closing dimension versions automatically when they are beingedited. For example, the all-dimension editing mode would open a windowfor each of the dimension versions that were then known to the designenvironment. The gallery view could also be terminated automaticallywhen the user returns to the single-dimension editing mode. Also,warning prompts could be displayed on the screen when a sub-set ofcharacteristics are being modified in an all or multiple-dimensionediting mode particularly when the characteristics being edited arethose that are not usually specified differently in various dimensionversions.

In a specific embodiment of the invention, the single, multiple, and alldimension editing modes are specified in a highly customizable way by auser operating on a list of dimension specifications such as those foundin dimension specification interface 204. In specific embodiments of theinvention, a user can select between all available single-dimensionediting modes by selecting different dimension specifications indimension specification interface 204. For example, by selecting theDefault button, the user will enter a single dimension editing modedirected towards editing the default dimension version. Likewise, byselecting the Smart Phone button, the user will enter a single dimensionediting mode directed towards editing the Smart Phone dimension version.In addition, the user may select additional buttons in the dimensionspecification interface 204 to select between various multi-dimensionediting modes, and may select all of the buttons in the dimensionspecification interface to select an all-dimension editing mode.Multiple buttons can be selected by holding down a key such as the SHIFTkey and clicking on various buttons. Furthermore, the dimensionspecification interface could include a list of dimension versions and aseries of check boxes next to each label by which multiple versionscould be selected for editing by selecting the various check boxes.

If a user selects the single-dimension editing mode, the method willcontinue with step 1003 in which a user is able to specifycharacteristics of the widget that will only apply to the widget when itis rendered in the dimension specification that the user is currentlyediting and/or viewing. Method 1000 includes an optional step 1004 thatdisables certain interface controls in this mode. For example, a name ofthe widget might not be capable of being changed in this mode becausethe name is used to recognize the widget regardless of which dimensionversion the widget is being viewed at or edited in. If a user selectsthe all-dimension or multi-dimension editing mode, the method willcontinue with step 1005 in which a user is able to specifycharacteristics of the selected widget that will apply to the widgetwhen it is rendered in multiple dimension versions. The multipledimension versions to in which the specification will apply depends onwhich editing mode the user has selected and which dimension versionsare included in the multi-dimension editing mode. Regardless of theediting mode selected, the method concludes with step 1006 in which thespecifications are applied to the widget for the applicable dimensionversions.

The manner in which the specifications are applied to the widget in step1006 can be implemented in various ways. As described previously,specific property values that are shared between various dimensionversions can be stored once in the model of the design. This sharedvalue could be considered a “base” value for the property. If thespecification applied in step 1006 was being applied to a limited set ofdimension versions, the value could be stored as an override over thebase value and be linked to that limited set of dimension versions.Likewise, an all dimension specification could be applied in step 1006by changing the base value and clearing all overrides for the propertystored in the model. In embodiments in which the property values for thewidget in each dimension version are stored separately, the applicationof the specification in step 1006 would follow a more straightforwardapproach of changing the property values for the dimension versions thatwere being edited.

Design Environment: Resize Events

As described above, a user is able to specify a design that responds toadjustments to a rendering space afforded the design by altering thestate in which a widget is rendered. In similar fashion and using thesame design environment, a user may also be able to specify a designthat responds to adjustments to the rendering space afforded the designby executing actions when the rendering space is adjusted. The resultingfunctionality could be displayed in window 201 or it could be impartedto the design only once it has been exported from the designenvironment. These actions could be added for specific transitions suchas a transition to a particular dimension version or a transitionbetween a particular set of dimension versions.

The design could be specified such that actions were executed when arendering space afforded the design was resized. An event handler couldbe added to the design and made conditional on the width of therendering space being equal to, less than, or more than, a dimensionspecification. The event handler does not need to be associated with awidget as it could instead be associated with the design in other ways.The event handler could utilize an OnResize event to execute the desiredaction when a rendering space was adjusted. The event handler in thiscase can be described as “listening” for the OnResize event. Upon theoccurrence of the OnResize event, the event handler would compare thecurrent size of the rendering space to one or more preset dimensionspecifications and then selectively execute its associated action. Forexample, a page could have a “show display panel” event handler, and thepanel could be displayed when a width of a player used to render thedesign was set to a certain size.

The design could also be specified such that actions were executed whena specific dimension version was selected for rendering, regardless ofthe rendering space afforded for that version. For example, a viewer ofthe design may be able to display a Smart Phone dimension version of adesign without changing the size of a player that was previously beingused to render a Desktop dimension version of the design. Thisfunctionality could be afforded in various ways. For example, a “fake”event could be added to the design that fires whenever the dimensionversion being rendered changes. The event is “fake” because a browserused to render the design will not have an equivalent event. This fakeevent could be “heard” by the associated event handler and be used bythe event handler to execute its action just as if the rendering spacehad been resized and the OnResize event had dutifully fired. As anotherexample, the input used to select the new dimension version could be setto trigger the action directly. This approach would not require thefiring of an event to be detected by the design code.

Exported Design: Responsive Encoding and Presentation

Designs specified in a design environment using the tools and methodsdescribed above can be used to generate an instantiation of the designfor rendering in an external player. In specific embodiments of theinvention, the design will be exported from the tool in the form of aninstantiation that can be stored and rendered externally to the tool atany time. The exported design could be a prototype of a web page or website and the external player could be a web browser. In such cases, theinstantiation of the exported design could be encoded entirely in stylesheet and markup language even though the in-tool renderings of thedesign might not utilize any markup language. The degree to which theresponsive nature of the design is expressed in the generatedinstantiation of the design may be configurable by a user. Likewise, thenature of the instantiation in terms of how it enables its responsivenature may be configurable by a user. The responsiveness of the designsis determined by the processes uses to specify the design. The states towhich the widgets are modified in each dimension version are predefinedstates that depend solely on the display dimensions of the renderingspace of the external player. Tools and methods for defining the natureof exporting and the nature of the exported instantiation of a designcan be described with reference to FIGS. 11-13.

In specific embodiments of the invention, the generated instantiation ofthe design can have varying degrees of the design's responsive natureexpressed. For example, a user may choose to export an instantiation ofthe design that is not responsive. The user could select a particulardimension version and generate an instantiation based strictly on thatdimension version. As another example, a user could generate aninstantiation of the design that is not responsive to any dimension ofthe rendering space afforded by the external player, but that stillcontained all of the dimension versions associated with the design. Thisinstantiation could be exported with an encoding of a selector box thatwould allow a viewer of the rendered instantiation to select between thedifferent dimension versions. The selector box could be displayed oneach page of the design across all dimension versions and could includea set of buttons that could be pressed to switch the rendered designbetween one dimension version and another. Finally, a user could ofcourse generate an instantiation of the design that was fully responsiveto a dimension of the rendering space afforded by the external player aswas specified in the design environment.

A selector box such as the one described in the previous paragraph canbe better understood with reference to FIG. 11. FIG. 11, displays thedimension versions of a single page in a design that were illustrated inFIG. 2 with the addition of selector box 1100. A viewer of the exporteddesign could click on a check box to indicate which of the dimensionversions of the design the viewer wanted to view. After switching to thedimension version, the viewer would be able to navigate through thedesign and view the various pages at the same dimension version andcould switch to a different dimension version at any time by making adifferent selection in selector box 1100.

In specific embodiments of the invention, the generated instantiationcan enable its responsiveness in various ways. For example, thegenerated instantiation could comprise media queries in an encoding ofthe instantiation, the generated instantiation could include an objectmodel event used to trigger a script, or it could include entireinstantiations of each dimension version of the design linked togetherusing a selector such as selector 1100. Each of these options isdescribed in more detail below.

Media queries are markup language definitions that a browser understandsand uses to automatically apply style sheets to a design. As such, theyprovide a way to enable responsiveness in a design. The variables of amedia query could be set to a dimension specification of the design, andthe style sheet associated with the media query could be defined to seta characteristic for a particular widget as required by a dimensionversion associated with that dimension specification. For example, awidget may be a text box that was specified to use 12 point font in adefault state and 10 point font when a rendering space width for thedesign was less than 10 inches. The media query feature utilized in thisexample would be the “width” feature and the condition would be “lessthan 10 inches.” The associated style sheet for the particular mediaquery would set the font used in the text box to 10 point font. Mediaqueries are intrinsic to browsers so they are very efficient. However,they are limited to providing responsiveness only to characteristics ofa widget that can be modified by a style sheet. A different approachshould be used for deeper responsive design.

Object model event handlers listen to various programming objects tomonitor their characteristics and execute an event when thosecharacteristics meet certain conditions. In specific embodiments, theseobject model event handlers can be used to provide a responsivenesscharacteristic to exported instantiations of a responsive design. Forexample, the object monitored by the object model could be a page usedto render the design. The event could be an on Resize event such thatevery time the page was resized, the event would execute and determine acurrent dimension of the rendering space used for the design. Based on acomparison of this dimension to the dimension specifications, whichwould also be encoded in the design, the encoded instantiation could runa script to modify the design. The script would alter the design beingprovided to the external player such that a different dimension versionwould be rendered by the player. The script could be a javascript. Sincethe modifications to the design provided by object models are onlylimited by what can be encoded in a javascript, the designs can exhibitdeep degrees of responsiveness including the ability to have interactiveproperties of the widgets in the design change based on the currentrendering space afforded to the design.

The responsiveness of exported designs that include a selector could beenabled in various ways. For example, the responsiveness could beenabled by exporting each dimension version of the design as a separateinstantiation with the addition of links between each set ofcorresponding pages in the dimension versions. In these embodiments,this added functionality would only require the different dimensionversions to be modified to include markup language defining the selectoron each page. When selected, the selector could serve to link a userfrom one page of a dimension version to another corresponding page of adifferent dimension version. The viewer would then be able to navigatethrough one dimension version for as long as desired before transferringback to the prior dimension version using the link provided in theselector. As another example, the responsiveness of the design could beenabled through the use of frames. The instantiation could be exportedsuch that, when rendered, a frame was provided in the rendering spacethat contained the selector. That frame would not change throughout therendering of the design, but would instead remain static while differentpages of the design were rendered by the browser in another frame in therendering space.

Instantiations of responsive designs that are in accordance with theprevious paragraph would allow someone to demonstrate the responsivenessof the design without having to actually resize the player. In specificsituations, this approach would provide an advantage for people that areattempting to review a prototype of a web page because it can be helpfulto analyze each dimension version with the same degree of scrutiny whilestill being assured that each dimension version of the design has beencompletely specified.

A user can choose to export an instantiation of a design from the designenvironment using an export interface. The export interface will providea connection between the user and an export module that is used togenerate the exported instantiation of the design. The export interfacecan be accessible from the graphical design interface discussed abovewith reference to FIG. 2. The export interface could be a permanentbutton displayed on the graphical design interface, a selectable optionin a pull down menu, or it could be a more complex window displayingvarious selectable options to specify the nature of the export. Thecomplex export interface could allow the user to specify what degree ofresponsiveness the instantiation will exhibit as described above.Likewise, the export interface could allow the user to specify how theresponsiveness of the design will be enabled. For this option, certainoptions may be prohibited based on what characteristics of the design'swidgets have been made responsive. For example, in a design in which theinteractive properties of a widget have been made responsive, the optionto export an instantiation where media queries provide theresponsiveness of the design may be prohibited in the export interface.

A method 1200 for exporting and displaying an instantiation of aresponsive graphical design that has been specified through the use ofany of the tools and methods described above is illustrated in FIG. 12.In step 1201, the design is exported from the design environment. Priorto this step, the design could have been specified in accordance withany of the methods described above, and the nature of the export couldhave been selected by a user using any of the methods described above aswell.

In step 1202, an instantiation of the design is rendered in an externalplayer. The player can display a predetermined dimension version of thedesign. The design can execute a script to sense the rendering spaceafforded by the player, or any other characteristic of the player, andenable the player to render the design in a particular dimension versionbased on the sensed characteristic. Finally, the player may determinethe proper dimension specification to apply itself based on markuplanguage media queries and render the appropriate dimension versionwithout using a script. Note that the player may render the designdifferently than the encoding specifically requires, in particular, anoffset may be applied to any absolute positioning specification for therendered widgets.

In step 1203, a rendering space dimension of the external player isadjusted by a viewer of the design. This step may be conducted to viewthe responsive nature of the design. The method will then continue tostep 1204 in which the resizing of the design is detected and it isdetermined if a change in the rendered dimension version is required.This can be done by sensing the new size of the rendering space of theexternal player and comparing it to the dimension specifications. If achange is required, the method will continue to step 1205 as describedbelow.

In step 1206, another dimension version is selected for renderingwithout adjusting the rendering space dimension of the external player.This could be done by hitting a short cut key or selecting a differentdimension in a selector as described above. The purpose of theseapproaches is to allow a viewer to analyze the design as it would appearat different dimension versions, but using the same sized viewer foreach of the versions.

In step 1205, code is executed to render a different dimension versionof the design in the player as initiated by steps 1206, or steps 1203and 1204 in combination. The code could be javascript that modifies astate of particular widgets in the design so that they appear in a statethat matches the newly rendered dimension version. The code could alsobe HTML associated with a different web page that can be used to renderthat different web page and display the required dimension version. Thedifferent code executed in this step will depend on the manner in whichthe exported instantiation was generated. In step 1207, the newlyrendered dimension version will be displayed in the external player withthe widgets in the design rendered according to how they were specifiedin the particular dimension version being displayed.

FIG. 13 displays another method 1300 for rendering a responsivegraphical design in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. In step 1301, a graphical design with at least one widget isrendered to allow for a display of the graphical design in a window withan adjustable dimension. The graphical design can be a web page and theat least one widget can be an interactive widget. The graphical designcan be an instantiation of a design that was specified using any of thetools and methods described above, and can be encoded in an encodinggenerated during any export or generation process described above. Instep 1302, the widget is rendered in the design in a first state. Instep 1303, an adjustment to the adjustable dimension is detected usingan object model event detecting javascript function that is encoded inthe same encoding as the design itself. Step 1303 can utilize anon-resize event. In step 1304, an event handler portion of the objectmodel event detecting javascript function is executed in response to thedetected adjusted dimension. In step 1305, the execution of the eventhandler causes the rendering of the widget in a second state that isselected by a processor based on a comparison of the detected adjustabledimension and a set of preset dimension definitions. The first state andthe second state can differ as to the interactivity of the widget. Thepreset dimension definitions can be encoded in the same design encoding.The preset dimension definitions can include a width value, a heightvalue, a combination of the two, or any other physical dimension.

Although embodiments of the invention have been discussed primarily withrespect to specific embodiments thereof, other variations are possible.Various configurations of the described system may be used in place of,or in addition to, the configurations presented herein. Those skilled inthe art will appreciate that the foregoing description is by way ofexample only, and is not intended to limit the invention. For example,more than one user could specify the design in the design environment incollaborative fashion working with other users, the design could be forthe design of an electronically circulated periodical, the dimensionspecifications could be determined ahead of time and labeled inaccordance with a set of popular aspect ratios or devices, the designscould be specified in three dimensions such that the dimensionspecifications could specify a volume used to render the design, themasters could have container widgets in predefined locations for mastersthat are to be used as headers or footers, and the predefined containersin the master could be configured to respond in predefined ways to thepredefined dimension specifications. Furthermore, nothing in thedisclosure should indicate that the invention is limited to systems andmethods that involve web browsers. In general, any diagrams presentedare only intended to indicate one possible configuration, and manyvariations are possible. Those skilled in the art will also appreciatethat methods and systems consistent with the present invention aresuitable for use in a wide range of applications encompassing anyrelated to responsive graphical designs.

Any of the methods described herein can be conducted through the use ofa computer system 1400 as shown in FIG. 14. For example, the designenvironment could be provided by a processing system 1401 acting intandem with a memory 1402. A user 1403 would be able to access thedesign environment through the use of a routing system 1404 and a userinterface system 1405. Any method steps involving providing or acceptingthings to and from a user can be conducted using interface system 1405.Any method steps involving executing an action can be conducted usingprocessing system 1401 alone or in combination with memory 1402. FIG. 14is only an illustrative computer system that is amenable to operation inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention and variantcomputer system topologies may be used in its stead. Nothing in thisdescription should limit the processor of processing system 1401 to asingle processor, as the function of this block can be accomplished bymultiple physical processors located either on a single work station orserver, or distributed through a network. It is not essential for memory1402 to be physically distinguishable from processing system 1401, asthey are merely illustrated as separate blocks for purposes of invokingcommon conceptions of how computing systems operate. Routing system 1404could be the internal routing system of a single work station, a LAN, aWAN, a wired or wireless network, the Internet, or any other systemcapable of routing signals. User interface system 1405 could be a workstation, a computer, a mobile phone or other mobile device, or anycomputing device or group of computing devices capable of receivinginputs from a single user or group of users. FIG. 14 should also not betaken to indicate that the invention can only involve designenvironments or design programs that may only be accessed by one user asthere could be multiple users 1403 and that group of multiple users 1403could access the design environment using any number of routing systems1404. Those users could also access the design environmentsimultaneously.

While the specification has been described in detail with respect tospecific embodiments of the invention, it will be appreciated that thoseskilled in the art, upon attaining an understanding of the foregoing,may readily conceive of alterations to, variations of, and equivalentsto these embodiments. These and other modifications and variations tothe present invention may be practiced by those skilled in the art,without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention,which is more particularly set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a memory storinginstructions; and at least one processor coupled to the memory andconfigured to execute the instructions, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processorto provide a tool for designing a responsive graphical design, the toolcomprising interfaces comprising: a graphical user interface having awindow for displaying a rendering of a responsive graphical design, saiddesign containing a responsive interactive widget to which a user canapply characterizations; a dimension specification interface capable ofaccepting user specification of a first rendering space dimensionversion of the design comprising a first layout of said widget and oneor more other graphical elements and user specification of a secondrendering space dimension version of the design comprising a secondlayout of said widget and one or more other graphical elements that isdifferent from said first layout; and a dimension version editing optioninterface that accepts a user selection of a single-dimension editingmode or an all-dimension editing mode; wherein: said user can utilizesaid graphical user interface to specify said widget to have a firststate in said first rendering space dimension version of the design anda second state in said second rendering space dimension version of thedesign, wherein each of said first and second states is associated witha respective set of user-definable property values of the widget;changes to said first state made while said user is editing said firstrendering space dimension version of the design in said single-dimensionediting mode only change said first state of said widget in said firstrendering space dimension version of the design; changes to said firststate made while said user is editing said first rendering spacedimension version of the design in said all-dimension editing modechange both said first state of said widget in said first renderingspace dimension version of the design and said second state of saidwidget in said second rendering space dimension version of the design;and each of said first and second states of said widget is associatedwith a respective user-definable absolute position property valuespecifying where said widget is to be located in the design.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, the tool further comprising: a gallery displayingsaid first rendering space dimension version in a first window and saidsecond rendering space dimension version in a second window; whereinchanges made by said user to said widget using said first window areimmediately reflected in said second window while in said all-dimensionediting mode.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein: said window displayssaid first rendering space dimension version when a first dimensiondisplay mode is selected; and said window displays said second renderingspace dimension version when a second dimension display mode isselected.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein a subset of properties thatdefine said first and said second states that are available for editingin said all-dimension editing mode are not available for use in saidsingle-dimension editing mode.
 5. The system of claim 1, the toolfurther comprising: an interface window that is called when said useredits a widget for a first time in a design in which said user hasinitially specified said first rendering space dimension version andsaid second rendering space dimension version; wherein said interfacewindow allows said user to select said single-dimension editing mode orsaid all-dimension editing mode.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein: saiddimension specification interface allows said user to specify multipledimension versions; and said dimension version editing option interfaceallows said user to specify a subset of said multiple dimension versionsto edit in a multi-dimension editing mode.
 7. A method comprising:providing a graphical user interface having a window for displaying arendering of a responsive graphical design that allows a user to designsaid responsive graphical design and apply characterizations to aresponsive interactive design element; accepting, via a dimensionspecification interface, user specification of design dimensions fordifferent first and second rendering space dimension versions of thedesign, wherein said first rendering space dimension version comprises afirst layout of said design element and one or more other graphicalelements, and wherein said second rendering space dimension versioncomprises a second layout of said design element and one or more othergraphical elements that is different from said first layout; andaccepting, via a dimension version editing option interface, userselection of a single-dimension editing mode option or an all-dimensionediting mode option; wherein: said user can utilize said graphical userinterface to specify said design element to have a first state in saidfirst rendering space dimension version of the design and a second statein said second rendering space dimension version of the design, whereineach of said first and second states is associated with a respective setof user-definable property values of the design element; modificationsto said first state of said design element while said user is editingsaid first rendering space dimension version in said single-dimensionediting mode apply to said first state of said design element in saidfirst rendering space dimension version of said design; modifications tosaid first state of said design element while said user is editing saidfirst rendering space dimension version in said all-dimension editingmode apply to both said first state of said design element in said firstrendering space dimension version of said design and said second stateof said design element in said second rendering space dimension versionof said design; and each of said first and second states of said designelement is associated with a respective user-definable absolute positionproperty value specifying where said design element is to be located inthe design.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising providingmultiple design viewer windows, each of said design viewer windows fordisplaying said design at different design dimensions simultaneously tosaid user.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising modifying saiddesign element in one of said multiple design viewer windows in responseto a modification to said design element implemented by a user in adifferent one of said multiple design viewer windows as thatmodification is made.
 10. The method of claim 7, further comprisingproviding an adjustable design viewer window for displaying said designat different design dimensions as said user adjusts a dimension of saiddesign viewer window.
 11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:accepting a design element characterization command from said userspecifying a characterization for said design element via a designelement characterization interface; wherein said design elementcharacterization interface allows a user to specify a set ofcharacteristics for said design element; and wherein a sub-set of saidcharacteristics are not available for specification during saidsingle-dimension editing mode.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein oneof said characteristics in said sub-set of said characteristics is alink address of said design element.
 13. The method of claim 1, whereinthe design comprises a web page.
 14. A non-transitory computer readablemedium storing instructions to execute a method in combination with aprocessor, the method comprising: providing a graphical user interfacehaving a window for displaying a rendering of a responsive graphicaldesign that allows a user to design said responsive graphical design andapply characterizations to a responsive interactive design element;accepting, via a dimension specification interface, user specificationof design dimensions for different first and second rendering spacedimension versions of the design, wherein said first rendering spacedimension version comprises a first layout of said design element andone or more other graphical elements, and wherein said second renderingspace dimension version comprises a second layout of said design elementand one or more other graphical elements that is different from saidfirst layout; and accepting, via a dimension version editing optioninterface, user selection of a single-dimension editing mode option oran all-dimension editing mode option; wherein: said user can utilizesaid graphical user interface to specify said design element to have afirst state in said first rendering space dimension version of thedesign and a second state in said second rendering space dimensionversion of the design, wherein each of said first and second states isassociated with a respective set of user-definable property values ofthe design element; modifications to said first state of said designelement while said user is editing said first rendering space dimensionversion in said single-dimension editing mode apply to said first stateof said design element in said first rendering space dimension versionof said design; modifications to said first state of said design elementwhile said user is editing said first rendering space dimension versionin said all-dimension editing mode apply to both said first state ofsaid design element in said first rendering space dimension version ofsaid design and said second state of said design element in said secondrendering space dimension version of said design; and each of said firstand second states of said design element is associated with a respectiveuser-definable absolute position property value specifying where saiddesign element is to be located in the design.
 15. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the method furthercomprises providing multiple design viewer windows, each of said designviewer windows for displaying said design at different design dimensionssimultaneously to said user.
 16. The non-transitory computer readablemedium of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises modifying saiddesign element in one of said multiple design viewer windows in responseto a modification to said design element implemented by a user in adifferent one of said multiple design viewer windows as thatmodification is made.
 17. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 14, wherein the method further comprises providing an adjustabledesign viewer window for displaying said design at different designdimensions as said user adjusts a dimension of said design viewerwindow.
 18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14,wherein the method further comprises: accepting a design elementcharacterization command from said user specifying a characterizationfor said design element via a design element characterization interface;wherein said design element characterization interface allows a user tospecify a set of characteristics for said design element; and wherein asub-set of said characteristics are not available for specificationduring said single-dimension editing mode.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 18, wherein one of saidcharacteristics in said sub-set of said characteristics is a linkaddress of said design element.